Friday, December 5, 2008

OUR FAIRY TALE

Oh, ick. I'm gagging at that title too. And, now that you mention it, I meant fable, not fairy tale.

That old saw about the tortoise and the hare, slow and steady wins the race, came to mind this morning as we were discussing our plans.

I'm a burrower. When it's time to wait for a sign, I just hunker down and wait. A hurricane can pass overhead, and I'll stand planted in one spot and wait, quiet as death.

Chip's a builder. When it's time for a sign, he'll paint one. If a hurricane passes overhead, he'll build a shelter, invite friends and cook a feast. There will be drinks, music.

The burrower and the builder. Vivre la difference!

So here we are, a whole plan laid out: sell everything and move onto a boat, and we're stalled on that first half: sell everything. Now what? I'm prepared to hunker down and wait it out. Chip's agitating, wondering what we're doing wrong, what we can do differently.

My experience with fables is that they're rarely true. That one about crying wolf? We all know that it's the squeaky wheel that gets oiled. And I don't know of any race that can be won by being slow.

We've scheduled another board meeting (with drinks and music) to decide whether to be slow and steady, to squeak, cry wolf or all of those things.

… how people arrange their lives to go sailing full time? I sure did, because that was our goal. I scoured blogs and books and magazines...

why we're here

how do you arrange your life to live on a sailboat? we are constructing the answer, letter by letter. this is my daily log of each decision we face, each land tie we break, each footprint we make as we plod toward our dream: life on the water.